2022 May
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The World PH: it has been a very rainy week over here, with the mornings typically hot and the afternoons and evenings with daily showers. Weather agency PAG-ASA has declared the official start of the rainy season, making my daily walks more challenging. At least we are hopefully going to suffer less of the summer heat. Covid isn't even over, but apparently there's a new disease to worry about: Monkeypox. I asked an infectious disease specialist I knew if we should be worried about it and she answered "At this point no. But that's we said about Covid too." So -
A Quote A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man alone can make a difference. -- the emperor, Mulan The World PH/Politics: Elections are tomorrow! Destiny is at hand, one way or another. The Leni/Kiko campaign held their final rally / Miting De Avance last night at Ayala Avenue in Makati, with attendance estimates reaching 800,000 attendees (!!). A lot of people, especially the Leni supporters, have pre-election anxiety. I wrote about my ballot and my final pre-election words here. PH/Covid: Thankfully, cases remain low. A lot of people have been predicting we might have a surge -
I've been putting my media reviews in the weeknotes but I felt like these two reviews would be long enough to justify a separate post. I posted spoiler-free reviews the other day. This post will have unmarked spoilers. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022) (Click photos to view full-size) Watched this with some friends last Wednesday, only my 3rd film seen in the theaters since the pandemic, and the first time I went with friends outside of immediate family. I usually try to avoid watching all except the earliest trailers for MCU film to minimize spoilers, but after -
Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness:
- fun, trippy and very "comic book" movie
- better if you have seen Wandavision
- don't bring kids, they might get scared
Moon Knight:
- some beautiful shots of varied locations
- great performances
- plot was ok, episode 5 was weird but probably the best one
- ending a bit weak
- probably enjoy it more if you're into the comics
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A whole new month just crept up on us huh. I don't have anything particularly witty to say at the moment. The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 10th week. No end in sight. Not sure if it's worth it to continue tracking this here since this may go on for a while. PH/Politics: One week remains until the elections on Monday the 9th. It's the homestretch! There was some kind of Baby Marcos-aligned sortie near our house last night. I briefly considered buying a tomato. I wrote a short note about my thoughts for the last
2022 April
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Today is Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week. When I was growing up, Holy Week was traditionally a quiet time of prayer and reflection; my grandmother would chastise us if we were noisy, especially from Thursday through Saturday. The period feels a lot less sacrosanct in the modern world, either because I'm an adult now or because people usually just take this time to go on vacations or whatnot, or maybe some combination of both. The World Putin's invasion of Ukraine is now in its 7th week. More and more Russian war atrocities are coming to light. PH/Politics:
2022 March
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I keep shifting between writing individual posts per thing I want to review or doing one of these "Watching Lately" posts that consolidate several items at the same time. I guess when it's a number of "less important" films or shows it's okay to consolidate them together? But if it's something like The Batman or an MCU film which are generally bigger fandoms for me, then individual posts are ok, since I'll usually have a lot to say? IDK, I'm just making this all up as I go along. This one is the last two weeks worth of movies and
2022 February
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Finished watching Peacemaker last week. This is the HBO Max spinoff series starring John Cena's character from The Suicide Squad (2021). It's a wild, foul-mouthed, witty, irreverent, violent and totally-not-for-kids ride. James Gunn once again has managed to take an obscure comic book character and wring a good amount of story out of him. The show has this ridiculous opening sequence which has the main cast doing a choreographed dance. It follows directly after the events of The Suicide Squad (there is a short recap). In-between all the craziness, the show manages to make some commentary on important issues such -
Actually managed to get through some of the TV backlog this week. The Book of Boba Fett This show started out okay, but then rapidly found itself trying to do too many things at once and bringing in so many Star Wars references and two whole episodes weren't even about Boba Fett. The show could have used a standalone season that fleshes out Boba Fett's character, why he chose to be where he is now (other than his motivation from the Mandalorian of "I want my armor. That was my dad's armor!") before trying to bring in all the other
2022 January
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"The universe never tells us if we did right or wrong. It's more important to try and help people than to know you did. More important that someone else's life gets better than for you to feel good about yourself. You never know the effect you might have on someone, not really. Maybe one core thing you said haunts them forever. Maybe one moment of kindness gives them comfort, or courage. Maybe you said the one thing they needed to hear. It doesn't matter if you know. You just have to try." Naomi Nagata I started watching The Expanse back -
Finally watched this despite not knowing anything about League of Legends, mostly because everyone kept raving about how great it was. First off, the animation and aesthetic are fantastic and top-notch. Story is ok, a typical tragic class conflict where there are few real heroes. Music is great; I like the opening song by Imagine Dragons. Will probably watch the next season.
(Click photos to view full-size)
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I binged the first season of this last week because I saw a good review of it. It's a comedy, but not a laugh-out-loud funny one, more wit than laugh track, though Steve Martin does put in some physical comedy at some point. It was ok, reasonably clever, but also a bit predictable. True crime fans might enjoy it more. Not sure if I'd watch the next season.
2021 December
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Hawkeye Hawkeye was fine. It was less about Clint Barton and more about introducing Kate Bishop and seeing the aftermath of Natasha's death in Endgame. Ending was kind of so-so. There is one post-credits scene at the end of the last episode, it's fun. (Spoilers) Wheel of Time Wheel of Time: The plot of season 1 follows the plot of the first book very, very loosely and diverges a lot by the final episode. I mostly enjoyed the season, and I can understand why they would choose to diverge from the books, though I will admit some of the decisions
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Finished the current Doctor Who: Flux series yesterday. It was a bit meh and loosely plotted, but I kinda enjoyed it. Chibnall definitely won't be missed though. The season seemed to mostly revolve around trying to dig out of the Timeless Child background set up in the previous season while at the same time squeezing out a last chance to use classic Who villains: Sontarans, Daleks, Weeping Angels etc. Also: So many companions! Anyway, apparently Jodie is getting a few more specials next year with Chibnall before they turn the reins back to RTD. I wish Jodie had gotten a chance with another (probably better) showrunner, but alas.
2021 November
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Supergirl had their series finale last week; the usual big superhero fight affair with a heavy-handed focus on "empowering people" typical of the series and relying on Supergirl making a big speech to inspire everyone in the world. Ended with a lesbian wedding, so go diversity. Wasn't a big fan of this season, waaay too much magic and time spent in the phantom zone and such. The last part was basically them chasing a set of McGuffins each with different rules that let them do a different gimmick with each episode and gave Kara an excuse to have another inner
2021 September
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I finished a rewatch of House earlier this week; it's only my second time through the series. First time was during my stay in London, when I did a Netflix UK trial. I don't think I ever caught it when it was running on TV, but it's quickly become one of my favorite procedural shows. I thought I'd write a quick retrospective on the show. (Writing about stuff helps me remember details!) Seasons 1-3 The first few seasons set up the premise for the series: Gregory House, genius diagnostician, misanthrope, painkiller addict, and all-around asshole, able to solve and diagnose
2021 August
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🔗 Funcooker.fun via web
Search engine for quotes from the show 30 Rock. There should be something like this for all shows!
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Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021) This is the fifth film in the series. Previously. The film is based on the manga story arc that covers Kenshin's time as an assassin during the fall of the shogunate, 10 years before the main story of the RK manga and anime. Basically the same storyline as the Trust and Betrayal OVA. Except it doesn't cover the earliest part of Kenshin's story - I was hoping Hiko Seijuro would make an appearance, so that's a bit disappointing. It's still weird that this came last after the fourth film The Ending, since chronologically it should
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It's August! A quote: "Here's the thing: there is no real life. There is no full, meaningful, "best life." There are, at best, more and less meaningful pursuits, from your perspective, based on your upbringing, imprinting, and your own specific cocktail of longings. It is natural for us to feel anxiety about how we spend our limited time. No matter how happy you convince yourself to be, you will sometimes feel the vague ache of other possible lives." -- SandwichBear via Amy Hoy The world: Some good news for the country last Monday, and it wasn't the old man's last
2021 July
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Some stuff I've watched lately. Spoilers for Gunpowder Milkshake and MotU: Revelation are marked. Casino Royale (2006) Bond film no. 21, and the first for Daniel Craig. The final era in this James Bond run, looking forward to it. Casino Royale is new to me, but I've seen two of Craig's Bond films, so I have an idea of what to expect: a more serious and much less campy James Bond, grim and determined. The tone here is much closer to Dalton's two films than any of the other runs. Since it's kind of a reboot, it takes place early